Comments on: Michael Pollan On Marketing Food

By: NJ Jaeger

NJ Jaeger — Wed, 27 May 2009 14:06:37 +0000

Your website is among the best. Thank you for your work.

About GM FOODs;

Famed Canadian geneticist David Suzuki says,

By: Justin

Justin — Thu, 21 May 2009 22:47:33 +0000

Great post!

Found your site through Mark sisson’s blog

I read in defense of Food a few months ago, and was completely blown away. Very smart guy!

- Justin

Justin

By: KristenM

KristenM — Wed, 20 May 2009 12:42:29 +0000

Icarus — I don’t think there’s any real evidence that we should eat mostly plants either. Just look at the native Inuit. They get 80% of their calories from fat and consume hardly any plants. Yet they’re a hardy people with no chronic diseases to speak of. I do think that if you’re going to eat mostly meat, you need to be extra careful about where your meat comes from (by making sure it’s wild/foraged/pastured). Otherwise you’d be constantly ingesting all sorts of toxic poisons and a very unhealthy and unnatural balance of fats.

By: Icarus

Icarus — Wed, 20 May 2009 06:46:44 +0000

I still don’t understand why I should eat “mostly plants” – what’s wrong with mostly meat? – but I like the general cut of Mr. Pollan’s jib.

By: Melanie

Melanie — Mon, 18 May 2009 20:39:27 +0000

Here’s the letter Michael wrote that the interviewer mentioned to the Farmer in Chief – http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/12/magazine/12policy-t.html It’s long but a great read.

By: Melanie

Melanie — Mon, 18 May 2009 20:31:50 +0000

Excellent! Makes me want to share this with everyone I know! Thanks.

By: Morta Di Fame

Morta Di Fame — Mon, 18 May 2009 18:54:46 +0000

Couldn’t agree more…

Morta Di Fame

By: smallfootprintmama

smallfootprintmama — Mon, 18 May 2009 02:15:06 +0000

I was introduced to Michael Pollan while reading the Botany of Desire as part of a horticulture class. He is always fresh, spot-on and revolutionary in his thinking. Thanks for posting this!!

smallfootprintmama

By: Amelia

Amelia — Sun, 17 May 2009 22:09:43 +0000

Okay, to clear something up, I’ve never bought the Haagen Dazs 5 ingredient stuff, so I’m not “falling into the hands” of anyone. I get almost all of my groceries from the farmers’ market (or my own garden). All I’m saying is that if we have blanket criticism for all mass-produced food, it ignores the relative merits of one product against its alternative. Government, markets, the food industry, and consumers as a whole move in increments, not in leaps and bounds. So yes, I think it’s a positive step that commercial producers are starting to make (and inevitably market) products that are at least slightly more organic/pure/eco-friendly/healthy than before. Next year’s products will be slightly better than this year’s, and so on. The more demand shifts in this positive direction, the easier it will be to enforce true standards and avoid the greenwashing that I will certainly admit is widespread now.

Anna said that the “best 5 ingredient ice cream is ready in less than 40 minutes from my ice cream maker,” and that is wonderful. But ice cream makers and free time are luxuries that a huge number of people cannot afford, and most currently lack convenient access to local food. For the person who’s going to the supermarket to buy ice cream, I think it’s generally a good thing that there’s a HFCS- and preservative-free alternative. If that brand becomes more popular, it becomes a cue for the industry to move further in that direction. Maybe the next product would be ice cream from grass-fed cows, and so on.

I am glad that there are so many people agitating for a better food supply – I count myself among them. But I’m leery of orthodoxy that would be impossible for most people to adhere to. I count myself incredibly lucky that I have the money, time, and access to local food that allows me to eat well. Not everyone is so privileged, or so aware of the issues, so I accept that things will progress in small steps and not radical shifts.

Amelia

By: Janis Ihrig

Janis Ihrig — Sat, 16 May 2009 22:09:09 +0000

Great videos. We all need to spread this around. Michael Pallan really calls it like it is. We can change things if we use our dollar the right way. It’s our voting power. Don’t buy and they either change or go out of business.

I know there are a lot of people in the world but things are getting pretty bad and it’s time to wake people up.

This is the first time I’ve been to this site. I’ll be back and send more people. Thanks!

Janis Ihrig

Janis Ihrig